Cyanobacteria in 1.5 year old tank

[Tammy J]

0 nitrates are definitely part of the problem. What is your nutrient export regime?

I have a canister pump with carbon, bio balls, and others that is for a 70 gallon tank. I change out 12 gallons of water every 2 weeks...that's about it. My protein skimmer wasn't working appropriately and I haven't replaced it yet as I have not found one I think would do a better job.

 

[Tammy J]

Use more GFO or replace more often, use more activated carbon or replace more often, clean or replace filter socks more often, do bigger water changes or do more often, add a refugium with macro algae if you don’t have one, get a bigger skimmer. I’m sure there’s more but these are what come to my mind. Oh, add more corals since corals use nutrients also.

I do use carbon and clean out the filter media in my tank. I change 12 gallons of water every two weeks. This is what I have done so far. I will look into a bigger skimmer! I tried corals but did it too early and they didn't last long. I plan to try them again eventually.

 

[Stephen Glover]

I have a canister pump with carbon, bio balls, and others that is for a 70 gallon tank. I change out 12 gallons of water every 2 weeks...that's about it. My protein skimmer wasn't working appropriately and I haven't replaced it yet as I have not found one I think would do a better job.

Hmmm, you shouldn’t have zero nitrates then. What test kits are using? Can you post all your parameters.

 

[Tammy J]

Hmmm, you shouldn’t have zero nitrates then. What test kits are using? Can you post all your parameters.

I may be misremembering my numbers. I will test again when I get home and get back with you!

 

[fish farmer]

I do use carbon and clean out the filter media in my tank. I change 12 gallons of water every two weeks. This is what I have done so far. I will look into a bigger skimmer! I tried corals but did it too early and they didn't last long. I plan to try them again eventually.

Where do you get your water from? Do you make your own?

 

[fish farmer]

What do you recommend for a 55 gallon tank? A protein skimmer? Something different?

If it was my tank it would be drilled for an overflow and sump, a skimmer rated higher than the tank volume, an area to grow macroalgae and a small reactor for carbon or GFO and enough powerheads to try and keep stuff suspended.

 

[blecki]

Flow is really key. Stuff just does not starve - but it won't settle and grow a mat if the flow is good.

 

[Tammy J]

Where do you get your water from? Do you make your own?

I make my own or I purchase distilled water.

 

[Tammy J]

Hmmm, you shouldn’t have zero nitrates then. What test kits are using? Can you post all your parameters.

My parameters are as follows:
PH 8.2
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20ppm
Ammonia 0
I don’t have a phosphate test kit. I am currently using the API master test kit.

Also, here is an update of what my tank looks like today…

 

[The_Paradox]

That’s getting up there for nitrate. Either way as I said before, I would think this is more a flow or unstable temperature/light issue. If it annoys you too much to bust it up with Turkey baster.

 

[jackson6745]

This skimmer would make things much easier.

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[AKL1950]

Cyanobacteria eats/grows from eating decaying matter. That’s it’s food source. Those who have mentioned poor flow are correct. Your filtration system is not adequately removing excess food and fish poop out of the system. When that is the case, and the wastes start building up, cyano growth will start rapidly.

To fix the problem you have to remove its food source, which means get the tank clean. I don’t think a canister filter can do that, but if that’s what you have to work with, you need to help it. To get your tank clean, we have to first get it really dirty. By that I mean you need to blow all the rocks and sand qwith a turkey blaster everyday to get as much of that junk as you can suspended in the water. The canister is going to get as much as it can, but it will clog quickly, so you need to clean it once or twice a day. You have to keep doing this and when you start getting the bulk of it cleaned up, the water will start clearing and the cyano will start dying from lack of a food source. I know that’s a work, but that’s how you get rid of cyano naturally.

you also need to look carefully at your feeding regiment. Fish will eat as much as you can through in the tank, but they don’t need it And it just makes them poop more. A small amount is all they need. visualize this, a fished stomach is the size of its eyeball. Not that big.

 

[Stephen Glover]

A salifert p04 test kit is a decent phosphate test kit if you don't want to invest in a hanna.

 

[Rocktron1]

That's quite an outbreak.
Id use chemiclean to nuke it. Then as others have said increase flow/filtration and drop down the feeding to avoid future outbreaks

 

[blecki]

Also, here is an update of what my tank looks like today…

Looks like your well past the control stage. Fixing the nutrients and flow will help keep it away but you're going to have to go nuclear on that. Do all the stuff these other guys recommend but for the initial removal, I would siphon as much out as I can. You probably can't get all of it in a water change but you could do the siphon into the sump trick - in your case with no sump, siphon into a filter sock hanging on the side of a bucket; pour the bucket back into the tank; repeat until your filter sock is full of cyano. Then use chemiclean to nuke it and the other methods to keep it from coming back.